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TAS: Wives and Wenches, Sinners and Saints: Medieval Women and Women's History

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

9 am - 3 pm

Room B92

Wait List Only

Programs for Teachers

Chicago Teachers as Scholars

Medieval Europe is often thought of as a “dark age” when all women were powerless and oppressed.Yet Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine maintained personal control of most of southern France through two marriages, a divorce, and a separation; the peasant girl Joan of Arc led an army and crowned a king; the nun Hildegard of Bingen—who wrote treatises on medicine, science, music, and mystical visions—was consulted by the most eminent men of her era. How exceptional were these women? This seminar will focus on medieval women to consider larger questions of women’s history: What roles did women play in society? How oppressed were they? How much agency did they achieve? And how do medieval ideas about women continue to affect today’s society?

Seminar led by Karen Christianson, Newberry Library

To access the seminar readings: http://publications.newberry.org/teacherdocs/tas

Teachers as Scholars is a program exclusively for Chicago Public Schools teachers.